


out of my element

by kay_emm_gee



Series: the kids aren't alright (The 100 tumblr prompts) [92]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-06-10 11:24:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6954526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kay_emm_gee/pseuds/kay_emm_gee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A few too many tequila shots later, Raven was lying belly-down on a padded table and wincing as a burly but peaceful-looking guy was tattooing the chemical structure of serotonin on her butt cheek.</p>
<p>“Because I’m happy,” she had snapped at Wick when he made fun of her choice. They both had burst out laughing at the irony of her tone, causing the tattoo artist to sigh in exasperation.</p>
<p>The next morning, she woke up with a dry mouth, pounding head, and sore ass. When she stumbled into the bathroom, however, she saw that the butt tattoo wasn’t the only new mark on her.</p>
<p>SERIOUSLY??? was scribbled across her forehead in thick, bold, large letters. Apparently, her soulmate had noticed the tattoo. </p>
<p>{ Prompt: everything you draw on your skin shows up on your soulmate's skin and hey I'm doodling little hearts and flowers and sweet messages for you every day but I never get one back and JFC IS THAT A TATTOO ON MY ASS?! }</p>
            </blockquote>





	out of my element

Raven never told anyone about the doodles. They first showed up on her arm when she was ten–the usual age when soulmarks appear. The next day, she wore long sleeves to school. When she saw that Finn–her best friend–had unmarked arms, she froze. That night she cried herself to sleep from the knowledge that he wasn’t her soulmate.

The drawings came frequently after that, mostly on her arms, sometimes on her knees and feet. Hearts and flowers at first, growing more intricate as the years passed. Occasionally there were notes– _get acrylic paint_ or _volunteering at 3_ –but it was only when Raven was fourteen that there was one addressed to her.

_Hello?_

Sitting on the toilet in a bathroom stall at school. Raven stared at the neat writing in blue pen. Then she scowled, hid it again, and spent the entire next period texting Finn from the folds of her oversized sweatshirt. She scrubbed her arm raw that night trying to erase the message. She didn’t _want_ a soulmate, not when Finn was all she ever needed.

Raven kissed him the next afternoon while they were sitting on the swings (she was avoiding going home, he was giving her an excuse to stay out). He slid his fingers into her hair, messing up her ponytail and she grinned.

_Fuck soulmates,_ she thought, contemplating writing that in large letters across her forearm.

She didn’t though, and she let herself believe it was because kissing Finn was too good to stop.

* * *

When she was seventeen, the doodles stopped abruptly. No more blooming roses, no more bending sunflowers. Now it was just the occasional math equation or chemical formula. Whenever they were wrong or incomplete, Raven felt the itch to correct them or finish them. Still, she never did, not even after realizing Finn wasn’t who she thought he was (he never belonged to her the way she wanted him to, no matter how much she wished it).

The last mark she got was when she was twenty, and it was a sloppily written question: _why don’t you ever write back?_

She almost laughed because apparently this was her soulmate’s version of drunk texting. Even as a little bit of guilt crept in–ten years and she had never made a single effort to let her soulmate know she existed–Raven ignored the plea. She couldn’t let herself think she belonged to somebody, not again, even if that somebody would belong to her too.

* * *

By the time she was graduating college– _valedictorian,_   _bitches!–_ she had almost forgotten about her soulmate. She was _happy_ : had friends, had a kickass job lined up, had her future all set. She was happy and she wanted to celebrate, so when Wick asked her to go out drinking with him and Monty and some of the other engineering majors, she said yes.

A few too many tequila shots later, she was lying belly-down on a padded table and wincing as a burly but peaceful-looking guy was tattooing the chemical structure of serotonin on her butt cheek.

“Because I’m happy,” she had snapped at Wick when he made fun of her choice. They both had burst out laughing at the irony of her tone, causing the tattoo artist to sigh in exasperation.

The next morning, Raven woke up with a dry mouth, pounding head, and sore ass. When she stumbled into the bathroom, however, she saw that the butt tattoo wasn’t the only new mark on her.

**SERIOUSLY???** was scribbled across her forehead in thick, bold, large letters.

Raven stared at the familiar handwriting, made a little messy by outrage. The first note in years, and this was the only time she really felt the urge to respond. The mark she had made on her body–their bodies–was permanent, and it was only fair that she owned up to it.

Grabbing a felt pen from her desk, she settled back into her bed and extended her forearm. Carefully, she wrote a response.

_Sorry–it was a graduation present to myself._

She waited, anxious for a response and annoyed at herself for expecting one. Almost ten minutes passed before blue letters appeared beneath her own writing.

_I mean it could’ve been a worse choice but–really? On your ass?_

_Better than where someone can see it_ , she responded.

A few minutes, and then came: _Why serotonin?_

Raven smiled, warmth welling up that her soulmate had recognized the structure. Then her smile faded because her answer– _I’m finally happy_ –didn’t seem like a kind thing to send to her _soulmate._ Indecision gripped her, but eventually, even with a thudding heart, she gave her answer.

_I’m glad :)_ was the response.

With a quiet laugh, she wrote back _thanks_ , for the first time relieved that she had someone who was happy that she was happy.

* * *

With the silence broken, Raven found herself reaching out more and more to her soulmate, but just quick notes, short conversations. There was only so much of her skin she was willing to cover in pen, and there was only so much of her heart she was willing to risk.

Except–she was happi _er_ now. She didn’t think that was possible but the snarky comments and gentle words of her soulmate made her heart beat a little bit faster, made her smile just a little bit brighter. So it was with only a slightly shaking hand that she asked for her soulmate’s phone number.

_About time <3_ scrawled across the inside of her wrist, and for the first time since she was ten, Raven didn’t bother to hide the marks her soulmate left on her body.

* * *

Two years later, Raven was clutching Clarke’s hand as she flinched from the needle inking the chemical structure of oxytocin into her butt cheek.

_It’s the trust molecule_ , she had whispered against her spine as she laid kisses down it one lazy morning in bed. _Feels like a good compliment for us, yeah?_

Raven had rolled right over with a bright smile and shining eyes and pressed a searing kiss to her lips. _Yeah, that’s us._

“You okay?” She asked now, trying to bite back a laugh at Clarke’s scrunched expression. Her nose was wrinkling in pain, but she still found her soulmate cute besides (she always found Clarke cute, if she was being honest).

“Fuck off,” Clarke grumbled. 

Raven flicked her nose before leaning down to kiss her. “How’s that for a distraction?”

“I love you.” Clarke smiled, and not for the first time since getting her own tattoo, Raven was really, really glad that she had a soulmate.


End file.
